Power blowers which take in air from the rear of a housing containing a fan or from the side of the housing, and discharge air forward of the housing are in practical use.
As a power blower of this kind, a hand-held power blower is known as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-02-120511, for example. The configuration of this hand-held power blower will be described with reference to FIG. 12 hereof.
Referring to FIG. 12, a hand-held blower, or a power blower 210 includes a fan housing 212 in which a fan 213 is contained. An upper grip (main handle) 214 is provided on top of the fan housing 212, and a rear grip (auxiliary handle) 215 is provided at the rear. A discharge duct 216 for discharging air forward of the fan housing 212 is provided at the front of the fan housing 212. A plurality of legs (stands) 217, 217 for keeping a body 211 in a freestanding position is provided at the bottom of the fan housing 212. With the upper grip 214 gripped with one hand, and the rear grip 215 gripped with the other hand, the power blower 210 is operated for blowing fallen leaves together, for example.
This power blower 210 is a portable operating machine supported with both hands as described above. If the body 211 could be turned horizontally to be manually held, for example, as well as the body 211 being able to be manually held normally, various operations could be preferably performed according to working conditions.
The above-described power blower 210, however, has the configuration in which the upper grip 214 and the rear grip 215 are attached to the fan housing 202, and thus the power blower 210 cannot be manually held in a sideways position. That is, it has the problem that the work posture is limited.
Therefore, there is a desire for a power blower which can perform operations with a body in a normal position, or with the body in a horizontal position, according to working conditions.